IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reveco/v89y2024ipap1009-1028.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Short selling, informational efficiency, and extreme stock price adjustment

Author

Listed:
  • Fan, Yi
  • Gao, Yang

Abstract

Using Chinese equity data from April 2009 to August 2020, we contribute to the literature by exploring the impact of short selling on stock prices in three aspects. First, we find that as short sellers become more active, stock price adjustments accelerate, and prices respond more swiftly to public information. Second, we investigate the trading behavior of short sellers during periods of extreme stock price fluctuations and reversals. Our empirical findings suggest that short sellers behave like contrarian traders during these periods and consequently, short sales reduce the stock price crash risk. Last, we find that in emerging markets dominated by individual investors, sentiment seems a key factor for short sellers to moderate market crashes. When the market experiences unexpected sudden plunges, short sellers become “support buyers” and reverse the previously bullish investor-dominated market sentiment, thus correcting mispricing and mitigating irrationality.

Suggested Citation

  • Fan, Yi & Gao, Yang, 2024. "Short selling, informational efficiency, and extreme stock price adjustment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 1009-1028.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:89:y:2024:i:pa:p:1009-1028
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2023.08.013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059056023003337
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iref.2023.08.013?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Harrison Hong & Terence Lim & Jeremy C. Stein, 2000. "Bad News Travels Slowly: Size, Analyst Coverage, and the Profitability of Momentum Strategies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 265-295, February.
    2. De Long, J Bradford, et al, 1990. "Positive Feedback Investment Strategies and Destabilizing Rational Speculation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 379-395, June.
    3. Chen, Crystal Xiaobei & Rhee, S. Ghon, 2010. "Short sales and speed of price adjustment: Evidence from the Hong Kong stock market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 471-483, February.
    4. Chang, Eric C. & Cheng, Joseph W. & Khorana, Ajay, 2000. "An examination of herd behavior in equity markets: An international perspective," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(10), pages 1651-1679, October.
    5. Sanjeev Bhojraj & Robert J. Bloomfield & William B. Tayler, 2009. "Margin Trading, Overpricing, and Synchronization Risk," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(5), pages 2059-2085, May.
    6. Li Qian & Mingsheng Li & Yan Li, 2020. "Does news travel slowly before a market crash? The role of margin traders," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(3), pages 3065-3101, September.
    7. Kewei Hou & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 2005. "Market Frictions, Price Delay, and the Cross-Section of Expected Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 18(3), pages 981-1020.
    8. Harrison Hong & Jeremy C. Stein, 2003. "Differences of Opinion, Short-Sales Constraints, and Market Crashes," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(2), pages 487-525.
    9. Baker, Malcolm & Stein, Jeremy C., 2004. "Market liquidity as a sentiment indicator," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 271-299, June.
    10. Cai, Fang & Han, Song & Li, Dan & Li, Yi, 2019. "Institutional herding and its price impact: Evidence from the corporate bond market," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(1), pages 139-167.
    11. Abreu, Dilip & Brunnermeier, Markus K., 2002. "Synchronization risk and delayed arbitrage," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 341-360.
    12. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine & Alexey Levkov, 2010. "Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers from Bank Deregulation in the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1637-1667, October.
    13. Feng, Xunan & Chan, Kam C., 2016. "Information advantage, short sales, and stock returns: Evidence from short selling reform in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 131-142.
    14. Comerton-Forde, Carole & Jones, Charles M. & Putniņš, Tālis J., 2016. "Shorting at close range: A tale of two types," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(3), pages 546-568.
    15. Fotini Economou & Christis Hassapis & Nikolaos Philippas, 2018. "Investors’ fear and herding in the stock market," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(34-35), pages 3654-3663, July.
    16. Dayong Lv & Wenfeng Wu, 2020. "Margin trading and price efficiency: information content or price‐adjustment speed?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(3), pages 2889-2918, September.
    17. Arturo Bris & William N. Goetzmann & Ning Zhu, 2007. "Efficiency and the Bear: Short Sales and Markets Around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1029-1079, June.
    18. Romer, David, 1993. "Rational Asset-Price Movements without News," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1112-1130, December.
    19. Lepone, Andrew & Wen, Jun & Wong, Jin Boon & Yang, Jin Young, 2019. "Short selling restrictions and index futures pricing: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 179-187.
    20. Ekkehart Boehmer & Juan (Julie) Wu, 2013. "Short Selling and the Price Discovery Process," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(2), pages 287-322.
    21. Chen, Jun & Kadapakkam, Palani-Rajan & Yang, Ting, 2016. "Short selling, margin trading, and the incorporation of new information into prices," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-17.
    22. Yugang Yin & Rongfu Tian, 2017. "Investor Sentiment, Financial Report Quality and Stock Price Crash Risk: Role of Short-Sales Constraints," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(3), pages 493-510, March.
    23. Zhisheng Li & Bingxuan Lin & Ting Zhang & Chen Chen, 2018. "Does short selling improve stock price efficiency and liquidity? Evidence from a natural experiment in China," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(15), pages 1350-1368, October.
    24. Li, Rui & Li, Chenchen & Yuan, Jinjian, 2022. "Short-sale constraints and cross-predictability: Evidence from Chinese market," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 166-176.
    25. Miller, Edward M, 1977. "Risk, Uncertainty, and Divergence of Opinion," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1151-1168, September.
    26. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 2015. "A five-factor asset pricing model," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 1-22.
    27. Lanlan Liu & Dan Luo & Ningru Zhao, 2020. "Short-selling Activity and Return Predictability: Evidence from the Chinese Stock Market," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(14), pages 3445-3467, November.
    28. Rui Li & Nan Li & Jiahui Li & Chongfeng Wu, 2018. "Short selling, margin buying and stock return in China market," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(2), pages 477-501, June.
    29. Chiu, Junmao & Chung, Huimin & Ho, Keng-Yu & Wu, Chih-Chiang, 2018. "Investor sentiment and evaporating liquidity during the financial crisis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 21-36.
    30. Pedro A. C. Saffi & Kari Sigurdsson, 2011. "Price Efficiency and Short Selling," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(3), pages 821-852.
    31. Zhu, Lin & Chen, Qinyuan & Yang, Shengzhi & Yi, Zhihong, 2021. "The role of analysts in negative information production and disclosure: Evidence from short selling deregulation in an emerging market," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 391-406.
    32. Ye, Qing & Zhou, Shengjie & Zhang, Jie, 2020. "Short-selling, margin-trading, and stock liquidity: Evidence from the Chinese stock markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    33. Deng, Xin & Hung, Shengmin & Qiao, Zheng, 2018. "Mutual fund herding and stock price crashes," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 166-184.
    34. Mao Liang Li & Chin Man Chui & Chang Qing Li, 2014. "Is pairs trading profitable on China AH-share markets?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(16), pages 1116-1121, November.
    35. Nezafat, Mahdi & Schroder, Mark & Wang, Qinghai, 2017. "Short-sale constraints, information acquisition, and asset prices," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 273-312.
    36. Diamond, Douglas W. & Verrecchia, Robert E., 1987. "Constraints on short-selling and asset price adjustment to private information," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 277-311, June.
    37. Wang, Xiao Lu & Shi, Kan & Fan, Hong Xia, 2006. "Psychological mechanisms of investors in Chinese Stock Markets," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 762-780, December.
    38. Bai, Min & Qin, Yafeng & Zhang, Huiping, 2021. "Stock price crashes in emerging markets," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 466-482.
    39. Jun Chen & Huimin Li & Dazhi Zheng, 2020. "The Impact of Margin-Trading and Short-Selling on Stock Price Efficiency—Evidence from the Fifth-Round Ban Lift in the Chinese Stock Market," Chinese Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(3), pages 265-284, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yaping Zhou & Xundi Diao & Dayong Lv, 2023. "Role of OTC options in stock price efficiency: Evidence from the Chinese market," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(4), pages 4629-4655, December.
    2. Alves, Carlos & Mendes, Victor & Silva, Paulo Pereira da, 2016. "Analysis of market quality before and during short-selling bans," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 252-268.
    3. Bessler, Wolfgang & Vendrasco, Marco, 2022. "Short-selling restrictions and financial stability in Europe: Evidence from the Covid-19 crisis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    4. Stephen L. Lenkey, 2021. "Informed Trading with a Short-Sale Prohibition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(3), pages 1803-1824, March.
    5. Chang, Eric C. & Luo, Yan & Ren, Jinjuan, 2014. "Short-selling, margin-trading, and price efficiency: Evidence from the Chinese market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 411-424.
    6. Dagmar Linnertová, 2017. "How Did Short Sale Ban Affect German Capital Market Risk?," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 65(6), pages 2017-2024.
    7. Eom, Yunsung & Hahn, Jaehoon & Sohn, Wook, 2021. "Short sales restrictions and market quality: Evidence from Korea," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    8. Shyu, Yih-Wen & Chan, Kam C. & Liang, Hsin-Yu, 2018. "Spillovers of price efficiency and informed trading from short sales to margin purchases in absence of uptick rule," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 163-183.
    9. Hsin, Chin-Wen & Peng, Shu-Cing, 2023. "Investor propensity to speculate and price delay in emerging markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    10. Nishiotis, George P. & Rompolis, Leonidas S., 2019. "Put-call parity violations and return predictability: Evidence from the 2008 short sale ban," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 276-297.
    11. He, Meng & Bai, Xuelian & Zhang, Junrui, 2024. "Does short selling reduce classification shifting?—— Exploration of market-oriented governance mechanism," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    12. Ge-zhi Wu & Da-ming You, 2021. "Margin trading, short selling and corporate green innovation," Papers 2107.11255, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2021.
    13. Oscar Bernal Diaz & Astrid Herinckx & Ariane Szafarz, 2014. "Which short-selling regulation is the least damaging to market efficiency? Evidence from Europe," Post-Print CEB, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 37, pages 244-256, March.
    14. Markus K. Brunnermeier & Martin Oehmke, 2014. "Predatory Short Selling," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 18(6), pages 2153-2195.
    15. Chen, Shenglan & Chou, Robin K. & Liu, Xiaoling & Wu, Yuhui, 2020. "Deregulation of short-selling constraints and cost of bank loans: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    16. Bae, Kwangil & Kang, Jangkoo & Lee, Soonhee, 2016. "Bullish/bearish/neutral strategies under short sale restrictions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 227-239.
    17. Wan, Xiaoyuan, 2024. "Margin-buying, short-selling, and stock valuation: Why is the effect reversed over time in China?," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    18. Frino, Alex & Lecce, Steven & Lepone, Andrew, 2011. "Short-sales constraints and market quality: Evidence from the 2008 short-sales bans," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 225-236, August.
    19. Haiyan Jiang & Ahsan Habib & Mostafa Monzur Hasan, 2022. "Short Selling: A Review of the Literature and Implications for Future Research," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 1-31, January.
    20. Pavlidis, Efthymios G. & Vasilopoulos, Kostas, 2020. "Speculative bubbles in segmented markets: Evidence from Chinese cross-listed stocks," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Extreme price; Information efficiency; Investor sentiment; Price adjustment; Short selling;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:89:y:2024:i:pa:p:1009-1028. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620165 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.